Monday was "Earth Day" and we decided to make a week of it. We kicked it off by watching "The Lorax", learning about the importance of trees and protecting our planet. We also read about some famous Earth heroes - Greta Thunberg, David Attenborough, and Jane Goodall - and even watched parts of their speeches/documentaries. We were especially surprised to learn that all three of these heroes are still alive! Apparently we assume that many of the world's most inspiring people came before our time, but Madame reminded us that we, too, can be inspiring people. We may be small, but our voices are mighty. Greta Thunberg proved just how much of an impact a child can have on her world. We had an eye-opening experience when Madame had us sort pictures into different categories - Garbage, Recycling or Compost? We were surprised to learn that the only items that ACTUALLY go in the garbage from our pile of pictures were candles and soiled tissues. Everything else could either be recycled or composted! We decided to put this knowledge to good use and went on a garbage hunt, collecting and then sorting all kinds of items. And we even made a poster to help inform the school community of how long it takes for various items to decompose. Madame gave us some very careful instructions on how to use a glue gun and we managed to get through this exercise without anyone burning themselves! We have had all kinds of teachers and students commenting on our poster already! They are very intrigued by our research into how long it takes each item to decompose. Keeping with the nature/Earth theme, we did some flower art this week, trying a new technique. We started by using Art Hub to draw a tulip, then traced it in coloured glue. The "pièce de résistance" was when we coloured on tinfoil and then sprayed it with water to transfer the colours to our art. We were speechless at the results! It looked soooo cool! Oh and hey, it was our "Jump Rope for Heart" day in gym class today. We wrote on our paper hearts who we wanted to dedicate our jumping to, and then kept those names in mind while we worked up a sweat! We are getting more and more excited about our chicks! Today was Day 16. (They usually hatch after 21 days). Impromptu chicken dance party... Extra photos...
Our school-wide "Semaine de la francophonie" sure kept us busy this week! First up was the Missy D concert, one of our favourite French singers, and Madame lead the teacher fan-girl brigade. We were so thrilled to be able to sing along to many of the lyrics that we already knew from her songs! We also had multiple visits from Bonhomme this week, a school-wide picnic, and for some of us, our first taste of famous Canadian "Beaver Tails". Inspired by the ice sculptures in Quebec's winter "Carnaval", the whole school also participated in an "ice sculpture" contest made from sugar cubes. Apparently only brown sugar cubes were available at the store so we had to use our imaginations a bit. We started out really strong with our "ice sculpture", but soon found out that our love of liquid glue was actually melting the sugar. This turned our best efforts at a castle into a soupy mess and we were soon whipping out a spoon and stirring the messy stew that it had created. Needless to say, our finished product did not win any prizes. But we definitely had fun making it! And we enjoyed parading around the school to look at other classes' creations. And it wouldn't be a "Semaine de la francophonie" without some classic French-Canadian sports!... a toboggan race, a "crêpe" toss, a dog race, and a canoe race. (Imagination required)... Meanwhile, Madame has been continuing our chess lessons and we've been loving trying out our newfound knowledge during play time. A few of us have taken some liberties on the exact game rules, but for the most part, we are learning real chess moves and some of us are even beginning to strategize. We are also continuing to learn about the life cycle of a chicken, as well as French vocabulary related to chickens. It was especially fun to touch a couple of real nests! These ones aren't chicken nests, but were found abandoned by a special friend of Madame's who gifted them to her classroom. And hey, if we didn't have enough living things in our classroom, we now have more... caterpillars! We've begun measuring these little guys every day and are amazed at how fast they're growing! We are excited to watch their transformative process unfold. Extra photos...
What a fun week we've had! We prepared for our Aquarium trip by talking about different sea creatures, including the megalodon shark, which is the largest shark on record to have ever lived. Scientists believe it was 60 feet long, or the equivalent of about 15 second-graders. We needed to test this out for ourselves to get an idea of just how big that actually is! And all we can say is... Wow!... We would NOT want to cross paths with this shark! Tuesday, the big day came and we got to actually see the Aquarium animals. The bus ride was long, but we all agreed it was worth it! (Thank you so much to all of the parents who shared these photos with Madame! There were soooo many good ones that it would have taken forever to post them all, but here is a size-able sampling!) The Aquarium wasn't the only super fun thing we saw this week... Zahra and her mom also prepared a presentation for us all about Eid and Ramadan, a holiday that they celebrate in their Muslim culture. Zahra did a phenomenal job reading a script all about their traditions while her mom went through a prepared PowerPoint. Then they shared some treats with us - traditionally, something sweet and something salty. And one of the coolest parts... henna tattoos! This henna was extra special because it was brought straight from India by Zahra's dad. What an incredible gift this experience was to all of us! A huge "merci" to Zahra's family! Other highlights... Hey, there was an eclipse! We watched the live feed instead of the real thing, but Bodhi protected his eyes, anyway, with his special eclipse viewer. Smart guy! We were absolutely amazed at how dark it got when the eclipse was at totality! And "Farmer Crystal" (this will always be her name in Madame's heart) brought in our chick eggs! We loved checking out all the different colours of the eggs (different breeds) and have eagerly started tracking the chicks' growth within them with the help of a special app on Madame's phone. They will take about 21 days to incubate before they hatch. Extra photos...
Signs of Spring are everywhere now, and we loved experiencing them on our walk to the forest this week. The cherry blossom trees even made perfect natural confetti. "It's like snow on the ground, Madame!" We were especially fascinated by a giant bumble bee. A friend donated some wood paddles to Madame so she has been letting us spend the week sanding them and making them into whatever we want! We talked about how they may be shaped like a paddle, but they could actually be many different things - a baseball bat, a tennis racket, a puppet, a guitar, a fish... The only limit is our imaginations! Madame taught us how to use sandpaper and to look for the numbers written on the back. The lower the number, the grittier the sandpaper is, which is great for really rough wood. The higher the number, the smoother it is, which is great when our project is already quite smooth. We have enjoyed caressing our projects with our cheeks to see just how smooth they are. We had a special guest singer today - Peter's dad! He introduced us to his guitar, named "Gibson", and lead us through some really fun songs. We were begging him not to leave when it was time. Peter also did a phenomenal job telling us about his family's Easter traditions. What a great duo! We learned all about letting our kindness and love shine bright for those around us. It was also a super fun week in gym class! How could you not be excited about this?!... Even Madame couldn't resist getting in on that fun! Extra pics...
|
Archives
June 2024
Categories |